Rachael Kelsey portrait - awla internation

Rachael Kelsey

AWLA Publicity team

A member of the Publicity team of African Women Lawyers Association

Practice Areas

Biography

Rachael is a founding Partner of SKO, the largest niche family law practice in Scotland. Her work centers on family law matters (widely construed), and often has a jurisdictional and / or human rights perspective. She works between Edinburgh and London, practicing Scots law.

Education & other engagements

achael is the only ‘Hall of Fame’ family lawyer in Scotland in the Legal 500 (2021 Edition) and the only Scottish lawyer in the Spears 500 Family Lawyers Guide (2021). Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 both describe Rachael as, ‘the doyenne of Scots family law’. She is President of the European Chapter of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) and accredited as a Specialist in Family Law and as a Family Mediator by the Law Society of Scotland.

Rachael founded the IAFL Committee that is responsible for growth of fellowship in Africa. Her interest in the law of jurisdictions in Africa started at University, where she was fortunate to be tutored by two academics who were passionate about, amongst other things, the development of the law in Botswana, post independence.

Results

Latterly Rachael’s enthusiasm has been to connect practitioners and academics from Europe and the US to their counterparts in Africa, in order there can be a cross fertilization of knowledge and ideas about, in particular, the recognition of customary marriage and parentage and community based dispute resolution . All of this is really just a ploy to allow her to spend time in places where she can get proper jollof rice.